C.A.R. Form CR — Contingency Removal
The document that changes a California buyer’s position more than any other. It is also the one whose absence is most often misread.
What signing it does
It closes a defined route out of the contract. While a contingency is live, the buyer can end the deal on that basis and expect the deposit back. Afterwards, failing to close is a breach rather than an exercise of a right, and the deposit is exposed — subject to the statutory limits on how much a seller may keep.
Removal is itemized
Contingencies are removed individually, so a buyer settling the inspection question can remove the investigation contingency while keeping the loan contingency until the lender is firm. Removing one does not imply the others.
That is worth being explicit about, because sellers under pressure sometimes read a partial removal as the whole thing and start behaving as though the deal is firm. It is not. A buyer who has removed the investigation contingency and nothing else still has a full route out if the financing does not arrive, and the deposit travels with it. The document itself is unambiguous about which are going; the conversations around it frequently are not.
Signing it is not the same as delivering it
A removal takes effect when it reaches the other side, not when it is signed. A signed form sitting in a transaction folder, or attached to an email that was never sent, has removed nothing — and because the paperwork looks complete, this is a failure that is invisible from the inside of a file.
It cuts both ways, and the direction that hurts is usually the buyer’s. A buyer who believes the contingency is gone and stops treating the deadline as live still has the protection they think they gave up, which is harmless. A seller who believes a removal arrived and plans around it does not have what they think they have. Keeping the delivery record with the form is what settles that question later without an argument.
Forms this touches
Named so you know which document the conversation ends in. Their text is not reproduced here.
- CR — Contingency Removal
Questions that come up
Can a contingency be removed verbally?
No. Removal is by signed form, delivered to the other party.
What if the buyer never signs one?
The contingency remains in force. The seller’s route is to deliver a notice to perform, which starts a short period before the seller may act.
Describe the change in plain English
Amendly drafts the California amendment or addendum for your deal from a sentence. You review every line before it goes anywhere.
Draft your first amendmentRelated in this guide
- Removing contingencies in CaliforniaCalifornia removes contingencies actively, by signed form. A deadline expiring does not remove one — which surprises nearly everybody.
- C.A.R. Form NBP — Notice to Buyer to PerformThe form a California seller has to deliver before a stalled transaction can be ended, how long it gives the buyer, and when the clock starts.
- Backing out after removing contingenciesWhat a California buyer is actually exposed to after signing a contingency removal, and the 3% rule in Civil Code § 1675 that limits what a seller may keep.
Where this comes from
This page describes how California residential transactions typically work. It is general information, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for an attorney on a specific deal. Amendly is not a law firm. Forms are named and described here; their text is not reproduced. Amendly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the California Association of REALTORS® or any state agency.